Mandarin Oriental, Munich has launched a special Oktoberfest experience, featuring a collaboration with a traditional provider of Bavarian attire, to allow guests to fully immerse themselves in the spirit of the world’s most famous beer festival.
From September 21st to October 6th, Munich’s Theresienwiese will transform into a vibrant festival ground for the 189th Oktoberfest, captivating visitors from around the world with its festive spirit and timeless traditions.
A primary goal of all photographers is to capture images with accurate colors, unless a special effect is the name of the game. When it comes to editing photos with skewed hues, Lightroom’s White Balance tools are often sufficient for getting things right.
In certain circumstances, however, it’s also important to understand the difference between Lightroom’s Vibrance and Saturation tools if you want your image to convey what you saw through the viewfinder in the field. That’s because these two sliders may work in similar ways, but the enhancements they make are decidedly different.
There’s no one better to clarify this important distinction than instructor Julieanne Kost who’s a self-proclaimed digital-imaging evangelist and an expert at all things Adobe. In this episode you’ll learn everything you need to know in less than five minutes—so that photos with incorrect colors will be a thing of the past.
Kost pulls up a very nice street scene to illustrate how all this works, and she describes the challenge like this: “Cameras often do a good job of setting White Balance automatically, but there are times when we want to make small adjustments.” Maybe you want to add a bit of warmth or cool off a shot to change the mood to suit your needs.
There are also times when you’re uncertain which way to go, and Kost reveals how to use a dropdown menu and experiment with various Lightroom presets until you see exactly what you want. Keep in mind that if you’re not working on a Raw file, the use of presets will be significantly limited.
Kost demonstrates how the Temperature slider can quickly come to the rescue. Another easy fix can be employed with photos where you know there’s a color that should be neutral but isn’t. This method involves employing Lightroom’s White Balance Selector tool in the manner that Kost describes.
Another technique that many users prefer is to manually employ Lightroom’s simple Saturation and Vibrance sliders. These adjustments provide more control for achieving perfectly balanced tones throughout a scene and Kost walks you through the simple step-by-step process she recommends. Some of the aforementioned enhancements can actually be used together for subtle and very refined results.
As you’ll see, Lightroom provides a number of ways to achieve ideal colors. The trick is understanding which tool(s) to use when. Once you understand the concept you’ll have it made in the shade (and in the sun too).
We strongly urge you to become familiar with Kost’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s an abundance of information for improving your workflow, or even solving problems that you confront on the fly.
We’ve all had the misfortune of returning from a shoot, only to discover that our “great” images are soft and unfocused. This problem can be overlooked if it’s extremely rare, but if it happens consistently there are a few problems that must be resolved.
This tutorial from the Photography Explained YouTube channel will help diagnose your problems so that you’ll “get crazy sharp photos with any camera every time.” Our unnamed instructor is an experienced amateur, and he puts it like this: “I know how frustrating it can be to return home with blurry or soft images, even when you feel like you’ve done everything right.”
The goal of today’s lesson is to fix your focusing issues once and for all in the next few minutes. One common cause is that your shutter speed is simply too slow to freeze subject movement in the scene. This setting is especially important in “low-light situations when your camera is struggling to gather enough light.
Another snafu occurs when the focus point you selected is in the wrong area within the frame. The checklist in the video indicates these and other potential problems, along with straightforward solutions for each. So be sure to make a screen grab for future reference when and if you confront soft photos in the future.
The video provides a comprehensive rundown of every concept on the list, with a bunch of key camera settings like exposure mode, choosing the appropriate ISO, and when it’s best to enable or disable Auto ISO. And, of course, you’ll learn how Aperture and Shutter Speed settings factor into the equation.
There’s also a bunch of valuable shooting advice for avoiding “operator failure” if you know what we mean. Here you’ll pick up effective suggestions for holding a camera steady, focusing tips that make a big difference, and a few more tricks.
The instructor adds an important reminder with regard to a frequent oversight; namely, failing to clean the front element of a lens. That’s because dirty glass can create a whole host of image-quality issues. Finally, there are times when you’ll have to rely upon a sturdy tripod to achieve tack-sharp photographs.
The popular Photography Explained YouTube channel is designed to help hobbyists and other amateurs quickly enhance their skills, with videos on shooting techniques, gear recommendations, and solid advice for configuring your camera in a way that delivers the best possible photograohs.
We also suggest watching the related tutorial we featured with another helpful expert who explains how he captures sharp, handheld photographs in the field—even in low lighting conditions or when shooting with a long telephoto lens.
